Discussion: quake

Just felt an earthquake here on the east coast of the US. Lasted several seconds here in Baltimore.

Yup, our building was shaking for a bit as well.

I felt it in NJ.

I just missed it, we were in the elevator and when we came out we were told to evacuate the building. The Japanese post docs weren't sure what all the fuss was about.

I felt it in Blue Bell, PA - thought it was the team of workers replacing the siding!

I miss all the fun.

shook a fair bit, no fuss here

xkcd:

as far as bethel CT

The epicenter is not that far from Fork Union Military Academy (FUMA), which has been fielding Interscholastics teams for many years.

As per Ian, the posts have arrived before the shaking. Still waiting.

Didn't feel it - was in the Metro, BUT now stuck in DC @ DCA. Incoming plane landed at Dulles instead. :(

Just a very slight sway in my office on top of Bio/Physics in Storrs, CT. Thought my chair might be coming loose, sat still a moment and noticed water in my water bottle moving. Thought I was imagining things until I heard a report on the way home.

I didn't notice it, but maybe it's not the kind of thing I would notice unless it was really dramatic.

Shook enough in my building (75 mi S of Buffalo, NY) to knock small stuff off the windowsill.

Felt it here in philly. Pretty cool!

Didn't notice anything here in Seattle, except for the fact that the plan for the downtown tunnel (to replace a quake-damaged elevated highway) was approved by the feds.

Anymore, any closer might rattle the boulders off their shelves in a place like Harriman, put a rift in the O mecca, call for legions of mappers to return to work!

Here in Albany, I thought it was just the HVAC malfunctioning again.

We had our own earthquake here in Colorado last night, but didn't feel it in Denver.

Just had one here in SF. Magnitude threeish? Most people probably slept through it.
I'll stop by the seismo lab on the way out of the building though, to see if it was enough to bring in the on-call earthquake analysis team. (I don't think they get called in unless its greater than magnitude four)

Was awakened by the 3.6 quake here in Berkeley. A small jolt. Have felt similar tremors dozens of times as the Hayward fault is a few hundred meters away.

I noticed it in Hudson, MA (about an hour west of Boston). Radio reports said it was noticed as far north as Maine.

I think I was in the air at the time.

The 5.9 shook my office over in metro Detroit. My first quake!

As the closest poster to the epicenter, I can say it was something. Started out gentle, we said, huh, an earthquake; then it got quite a bit more noticeable, and I jumped up to join my coworkers in the doorway. All wrong things to do.
We evacuated & were kept outside for 40 minutes; Nadim, in an older & bigger building, was kept out longer and his building was closed today as well.
Exciting stuff.

Doorways are recommended in some places...

That's what we thought. Today I read that's not really the thing to do. Should hide under a sturdy desk, apparently.

I guess with the surfeit of cubicle offices, you couldn't advise a hundred people to hit the same doorway.

It's gotta depend on the type of building you are in. Streets near tiled buildings are a definite no-no. Under Radisson hotel canopies too (from my first earthquake, a few years back)

A doorway may be the right thing at home, where you are less likely to have a desk.

I heard about this quake in the US this morning via the internetz. Thought you guys might like to know so you can prepare yourselves.

Is evacuation (not near a tiled buidling, nor under a canopy) always the "right thing"?

It depends upon how sturdy your bowels are.

i felt the epicentre here. it certainly was a difficult control, with a lot of contour detail.

Evacuation is a really stupid thing to do if there's any likelihood you'll be hit by bits falling off buildings (one of the more horrible aspects of some of the recent NZ earthquake footage. On the other hand, if the building is likely to fall down on top of you or catch fire, probably not such a good idea to be inside it.

Doorways are bad because of the doors in them. In a large earthquake, it's hard to control the door and it can swing and cause injuries. Doorframes without any door are good.

No honestly? Even a huge earthquake won't swing a door much... quakes need gravity to kill... the roof will come down long before.

Smittyo lives in LA--I suspect she knows of what she speaks. :-)

Fair enough, and USGS seems to agree. I guess doorways were useful back in the days or the countries they had lintels. I'm still sceptical about the whole swinging thing.

It was amazing the number of buildings in Philly where people were evacuated just to stand inthe street just below the building! - ready to be showered by flying debris on the aftershock!! Was in a meeting on 15th floor of a building in Philly, it was a bizzare experience, but 5.9 was enough - don't fancy a 7+ quake. Was talking with our client the following day and there were already talking about a different emergency plan - I guess it was a new experience on the east coast for most people.

I'm joining this discussion late but wanted to mention that we also felt it in Palgrave, an hour north of Toronto. I can't remember ever feeling an earthquake so far from its epicentre. (I guess it's an "epicenter" when it is in Virginia!)

>I can't remember ever feeling an earthquake so far from its epicentre.

That's because this quake was a message from God (along with Hurriance Irene) - at least according to Michelle Bachmann anyway. Jeesh.

Cut the deficit hammer. You know it makes sense.

Hmmm... intentionally or unintentionally echoing the slogan of the Monster Raving Loonie party?

You've got one lot of people saying that it was God showing displeasure at excessive government spending, and another lot saying that it was God showing displeasure about New York legalising gay marriage. It would be nice if He could make His mind up.

(Evidently most of these people were asleep when it came to the bit in religious studies about taking the Lord's name in vain).

I took a drip in my vein recently. God it still hurts.

ahh yes Blair and then there is Shimkus who said this last year

"'The planet won't be destroyed by global warming because God promised Noah,'